Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/56

 50 KOSSUTH for the publication of a semi-weekly journal, invited Kossuth to assume its direction. The Pesti hirlap (" Pesth Journal ") started on Jan. 1, 1841, with fewer than 100 subscribers, but in a month they were numbered by thousands. The national, moral, and material regeneration of the whole people was its avowed aim ; the existing constitution was to serve as a means, the aristocracy to have the lead. Count Ste- phen Szechenyi, in a book entitled Kelet nepe (" People of the East "), denounced Kossuth as a dangerous agrarian and demagogue. Sze- chenyi was ready to bestow freedom on the people as a gift; Kossuth demanded it as a right, and threatened to extort it. Baron Eotvos declared in his favor in the pamphlet Pesti hirlap es Kelet nepe. Public opinion was decidedly in favor of Kossuth, and the Pesti Mrlap not only became the regular organ of the opposition, which again carried the elec- tions in 1843, but also the oracle of the younger portion of the nation. A difficulty with the publisher, which was not believed to be acci- dental, removed Kossuth from the editorship, which was transferred to Szalay (July 1, 1844). Kossuth received no license for another jour- nal, and as the new editor of his former organ belonged to a branch of the opposition to which he was most heartily opposed, he found no better medium for the occasional publica- tion of his views than the Hetilap (" Week- ly Paper "), a small industrial sheet. Hungary was exhausted by a tariff calculated to keep it for ever in a state of colonial dependence on the German provinces, which by another tariff were protected against the competition of England, France, and Belgium. This system formed one of the chief grievances of the na- tion. Assisted by the most influential members of the opposition, among others by Counts Louis and Casimir Batthyanyi, Kossuth now founded the Vedegylet (protective union), whose members, men and women, bound themselves for five years to use exclusively home-made productions, whenever these could be had. Other societies, agricultural, commer- cial, and industrial, were practically to assist the protective union. The latter soon count- ed its members by hundreds of thousands. Kossuth was the animating spirit of the whole organization, which proved less effective for its direct purpose, the development of home industry, than for keeping alive the national agitation, and most of the practical projects failed. The elections of 1847, coinciding with the movements in Switzerland, Italy, and else- where, gave a new turn to affairs. Kossuth was elected for Pesth ; and Count Szechenyi, though entitled to a seat in the upper house, had himself elected to the lower for Wiesel- burg, in order to oppose him personally. A few sessions sufficed to establish Kossuth as a recognized leader of the house. The uncom- promising spirit of the two parties seemed to condemn the diet to inaction, when the news of the Paris revolution of February, 1848, reached Presburg. In a speech delivered on March 3, Kossuth proposed an address to the emperor Ferdinand, urging the restoration of Hungary to its former independence as a state, and the granting of a charter of liberty for the whole Austrian empire. The house of deputies accepted the propositions ; the upper house wavered, but the people of Vienna, ta- king the matter into their own hands, decided the question on March 13. Metternich fled. Kossuth was received in the capital of the em- pire, whither he now carried his address, with the honors of a liberator, and Louis Batthyanyi was intrusted by Ferdinand with the forma- tion of an independent Hungarian ministry, in which Kossuth received the department of finance. The long urged measures of lib- eral reform were now carried in an amplified shape, and on April 11, 1848, the last diet of Presburg closed its sessions, to make room for a national assembly in Pesth. Foreseeing the coming struggle, Kossuth devoted all his ener- gies, as the leading spirit of the new govern- ment, to the organization and consolidation of its powers. He created a treasury, organized the militia, formed new battalions of national soldiery (honveds), established armories, and roused the spirit of the nation by proclama- tions, speeches, and articles in his new organ, Kossuth hirlapja (edited by Bajza), at the same time neglecting no means of bringing about a peaceful solution of the difficulties. The south of Hungary and Transylvania were already engaged in an internecine struggle of races, in which the Rascians, old enemies of the Magyars, were particularly conspicuous. Re- action was triumphant everywhere, the cama- rilla was flushed by the victories of Radetzky in Italy, and Jellachich crossed the Drave with a large army to subdue Hungary. Batthyanyi resigned, the palatine Stephen fled, and Jella- chich was approaching the capital. Kossuth in the mean time had begun his armaments and issued treasury notes without the sanction of the king, and in a proclamation he called upon the people to rise and vindicate their rights. He repaired to the people of the Theiss, who flocked around his banners, and on his return entered upon a new course of activity, as head of the " committee of defence." The war of revolution was thus begun. (See HUNGAKY.) It was from beginning to end a struggle for life or death under inauspicious circumstances, and the overwhelming power of Russia, the obstinate disobedience of Gorgey, the want and the indifference of the governments of Europe, or rather their connivance with Rus- sia and Austria, finally decided against Hun- gary, which had been declared independent, and Kossuth its governor. On Aug. 11, 1849, he resigned his powers in favor of Gorgey, who two days later surrendered to the Russians. Kossuth sought refuge in Turkey, where he and his followers were confined in Widin, Shumla, and subsequently in Kutaieh in Asia Minor. His extradition was demanded by Austria and Rus-